Thank you, Madam Chair.
I, too, want to express my gratitude. To see such strong women leaders in your roles....
You all spoke about these changes. While they are slow, they are happening, and that's good to hear.
The status of women committee—this committee—did a study of the Canadian Armed Forces and women serving in 2019. What the committee heard was really quite disturbing in some regards, and clearly there was a need for change.
I want to ask a few questions about whether, even in these last few years, there have been changes from that. For example, there were stories from women who came forward and talked about starting their basic training, even leadership training, who mentioned how all future soldiers had to go through various medical tests where their proficiencies were checked and so on. As well, all the women had to have pregnancy tests. Before they can even start their course in any way, shape or form, women who are pregnant are often removed, even from the beginning in those training courses.
Is that still the practice, or has that stopped? Ultimately, I see that as a discriminatory practice.